The Worthams were a very very wealthy family in 18th century Hertfordshire. This is a tiny snapshot of their holdings.

Final Artwork

Artwork process

The thing about doing historically inspired art is that you learn way more than the piece can ever truly cover. Thus, I am apparently now a veritable fount of knowledge about Royston’s Manor House. So much so that I was invited to work on a book about the story of the Manor House with the local historical society.

Obviously the book needed illustrations and images (or maybe I just wanted another excuse to paint, but I’ll never tell!) so more historical art was born.

This piece is based on the spread of Wortham lands that Biscoe Hill Wortham would have been managing in this area alone. When he sold the Royston Manor House and moved to Kneesworth house, he was also Lord of the Manor of Shepreth (now more popularly known as Docwra's Manor). This artwork shows the journey he would likely have taken, maybe on horseback or in a carriage, to keep an eye on his estates.